Civil Rights

An executive order was issued on Wednesday by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue that will extend long-term unemployment benefits to 25,000 jobless workers in the state. The federal government pushed back the deadline for extended unemployment benefits to the end of February, but required states to make the change to their systems of calculations and deadlines as well

President Obama this past week appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board. They include Sharon Block, who most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs with the US Department of Labor; Terence Flynn, who was Chief Counsel to current NLRB Board Member Brian Hayes, and; Richard Griffin, formerly General Counsel for the International

On December 21, The National Labor Relations Board voted 2-1 in favor of new steps to increase the speed of union elections. The Board hopes to keep election and campaign time to less than 21 days. Often, there are long delays to unionizing elections because of legal challenges brought by the employer. The Board wants

Shortly before Christmas, House Republicans finally gave in and sensibly agreed to the two-month extension for extended unemployment benefits. When Congress returns after recess, debate will resume on whether to further continue the vitally needed unemployment insurance programs. For more information on North Carolina’s Extended and Emergency Unemployment benefits, see the Division of Employment Security’s

The House and Senate still have not come to an agreement on extending unemployment benefits for jobless workers. The federal unemployment provisions for emergency and extended benefits are set to expire during the first week in January. The U.S. Labor Department estimates that 3.6 million jobless Americans will lose benefits by March if nothing is

Ending two ridiculously long waits, the Senate has finally confirmed Charlotte Judge Albert Diaz to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and Greensboro Judge Catherine Eagles to the Middle District of North Carolina. Both will be excellent judges, and their confirmations have been long overdue. Other North Carolina nominations are still pending though. Former Magistrate

On Friday, President Obama signed the large tax cut bill that includes an extension of extended unemployment benefits through the end of 2011. While, the extension of those benefits was sorely needed, it is extremely unfortunate that the bill did not include additional spending measures that would stimulate the economy. As further evidence that the

Two recent positive developments to report. First, breaking new ground, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has charged a company with illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page. The NLRB’s press release is here. Coverage here. Under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, all employees — even

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